


Nightmare

by fastestmanalive



Series: Unfinished Business one-shots [6]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Night Terrors, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 04:32:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3105980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fastestmanalive/pseuds/fastestmanalive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>prompt by Tina Wu/magneta (anonymous users):<br/><i>Oliver has nightmares/panic attacks.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> trigger warning for night terrors, obviously.  
> I tried to write panic attacks too, but that's triggering for _me_ so yeah no not happening.  
>  Set a couple of months after they get together.  
> The parts in italics/present tense are the dreams.

_He's back on the island._

_He doesn't know how he got here; the last thing he remembers is eating dinner with Felicity, Dig and Roy in the basement of Verdant._

_He walks through the woods, wishing he had his bow and arrows with him. He has a feeling something is going to happen. Something bad._

“ _Oliver Queen!”_

_He turns around. He frowns when he sees Ivo's smiling face. “Aren't you supposed to be dead?” His own voice sounds distant and hollow to him._

_Sara and Shado appear, kneeling in front of Ivo. They look relieved to see him. He swallows._

“ _You need to choose.” Ivo points his gun at Shado, then Sara. “Who will live? Who will die? It's your decision to make.”_

_He shakes his head, unable to move. This can't be happening again, can it? It's not possible. All three of them are dead._

_Suddenly the scene changes. Merlyn is standing in Ivo's place, holding a bow, arrow nocked and ready to be shot. “Choose, Oliver.” He grins._

_He almost chokes when he sees who Merlyn wants him to choose between. “N-No, please.”_

_Silent tears stream down Thea's face; her eyes are closed, and she looks like she's mumbling a prayer. Barry only smiles at him sadly. “It's okay,” he says with a steady voice. “It's fine. I understand.”_

“ _No!” He takes a step closer, but Merlyn raises his bow._

“ _Make your choice,” he snarls. “Choose one, or I'll kill all three of you.”_

_Thea opens her eyes and looks straight at him. “Ollie, please...”_

“ _She killed Sara,” Merlyn reminds him. “She tried to kill Barry, too... She's been trying to catch you for months.” Thea whimpers and turns around, but Merlyn pushes her on her stomach with his foot. “Choose her, and you'll be free from misery.” Merlyn aims his arrow at Thea's back._

“ _Don't!” He runs forward before he can stop himself._

“ _Good.” Merlyn smiles cruelly. “You made your decision.” He turns his bow to Barry and shoots._

 

Oliver's eyes flew open, his breathing ragged. _Calm down. Just a dream._ He tried to control his breathing, inhaling through his nose and releasing the air through his mouth.

Images of his dream – _Thea's tears, Merlyn's smile, Barry's understanding face, and blood, so much blood_ – flashed before his eyes. He shook his head, trying to clear it. His ears were ringing. Oliver knew he wouldn't be able to sleep anymore.

He stood up, stretching his arms over his head, and walked to the kitchen to turn on the coffee machine. He had a long night ahead of him.

 

 

_The walls are crumbling; pieces of concrete rain on his back, but he can't feel anything. He was here before, he knows it; but it's been years. This isn't possible._

_A groan to his right. He turns and sees-_

“ _Tommy?”_

_Another groan. He's at Tommy's side immediately, trying to remove the heavy blocks from his body, but his arms are like jelly – they look the same as before, but there's no strength left in them._

“ _H- Hold on, I'm-”_

“ _Oliver?”_

_His heart stops._ No. No. No. This isn't happening.

_Barry looks at him, face twisted with pain. He whimpers. “It hurts.”_

“ _I know, I know...” He holds back tears, trying to heave the concrete blocks off of Barry's body. “I- I can't do it.” His eyes sting. “Barry, I can't do it, I can't, I-”_

“ _It's alright.” Barry raises his hand and cups his cheek, wiping a stray tear off with his thumb. “It's alright, Ollie.”_

_He lays his hand on Barry's squeezing it. “No, no it's not. I have to- have to save you-”_

“ _It's alright if you don't. It's fine,” Barry whispers and smiles._

“ _No, stop. Stop. Don't you dare die, Allen, don't you dare. I'm- I'm gonna-” He tries to pull Barry away, but his arms lock and he can't move them at all._

_Barry closes his eyes. “It's fine, it's fine, it's fine... I'm going to sleep now...”_

“ _No!” he sobs but can't_ do _anything. He feels helpless and scared – he can't save his love, his body won't let him, his mind won't let him, he's failing again-_

 

“Oliver!”

He shot up with a yelp, thrashing his arms around.

“Oliver, it's just us!”

Oliver stilled his movements, looking around. Roy was standing in front of him with his hands raised, eyes wide. Felicity was next to him, looking concerned. Diggle was behind him, apparently ready to grab him if he lashed out.

“Sorry,” Oliver grunted and sat down again. He leaned his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands.

His nightmares had been getting worse for a week; usually he could control them pretty well, but it was getting out of hand. He wasn't even really sleeping anymore, only taking 20-minute power naps when the fatigue became too much.

“Okay, I've had enough,” Felicity huffed. Oliver looked up. “I'm calling Barry.”

“No you're not.” Oliver tried to take the phone out of her hand, but she took a few steps back and he was too tired to follow. He crossed his arms on the table and let his head fall on them with a groan.

It had been a mistake to tell Felicity about his ongoing nightmares but, well, he'd been tired and had a rough night and didn't even realise what he was saying until it was too late. She'd been urging him to call Barry, to talk to him about the dreams he was having, but Oliver refused. Barry wouldn't be able to make it better; no one could do that. He'd just have to wait until the nightmares stopped on their own.

“Please don't call him,” Oliver mumbled against his forearms, but he knew Felicity could hear him. She laid a hand on his shoulder and put the phone on the table.

“Fine. But if it gets worse I'm telling him.”

Oliver grunted in reply and shut his eyes, falling into a – thankfully – dreamless sleep.

 

 

_He's walking through the Glades. It's weird – the Undertaking took place years ago, yet it looks like it happened just minutes before he arrived._

_He trudges through the rubble, all of a sudden completely exhausted – he guesses it's the not-sleeping thing._

_In the distance, he can see the faint outline of two people – it looks like they're in a fight. He runs to them, is there quicker than he'd thought (it seems like it wasn't that far away, after all, though that's weird...)._

“ _Oliver! So glad you could join us.” The voice sends shivers down his spine._

“ _Slade. What- How-” It doesn't make sense; rationally, he knows everything is fine, Slade isn't a danger anymore, but-_

_Barry is kneeling on the ground, writhing in pain, several arrows sticking out of his back and chest. He doesn't get it – Barry isn't healing; blood is oozing out of his wounds, pooling at his knees._

“ _Oh yes,” Slade says and takes an arrow out of his quiver, inspecting the head; it's covered in a sticky liquid. “Your sister gave me the recipe. Nice girl. I almost spared her.”_

_He bites back a scream and kneels down next to Barry, who leans into him immediately. When he looks back up, Slade is gone._

“ _It's okay, I- I won't feel anything in a few minutes.” He wants to say something but_ can't _; it's like his mouth is sewn shut. “It's okay, Ollie. It's okay.”_

_He shakes his head, carefully pulling the arrows out of his body; Barry screams in pain._

“ _Stop! Stop it, please,” he sobs. He stops instantly. “It's no use, I- I'll-”_

“ _No!” he exclaims suddenly; he found his voice again. “No, I'm getting you out of here, I-”_

“ _It's okay. I've- I've made my peace with it.”_

“ _Stop saying it's okay!” He's borderline hysterical; he stands up, trying to pull Barry with him._

“ _It's fine, Ollie, it's fine...”_

“ _No, stop! Stop! I'm not letting you die! Sto-”_

 

“Oliver, wake up!”

Oliver opened his eyes. Barry was hovering over him, holding him by the shoulders, his eyes wide and eyebrows drawn together in a worried frown.

“You- You're-” Barry raised his brows. “You're okay.”

“'Course I am.”

Oliver threw his arms around him; Barry obviously didn't expect it, toppled over and landed on top of Oliver with a loud _oomph_. Oliver clung to Barry like a lifeline; he buried his face in his shoulder, his arms and legs wrapped around him, feeling an unfamiliar sting of tears in his eyes.

He could feel Barry pulling away and squeezed him harder. “No, _please_.”

Barry shushed him. “It's okay, I'm just going to take off my shoes.”

Oliver loosened his grip. Barry sat up, pulled off his shoes and jacket, and lay down next to him again, wrapping his arms around him. Oliver melted into the embrace, burrowing his head into Barry's chest. His cheeks were burning – he felt so weak and helpless, but he didn't really care about that at the moment; he needed to know that Barry was here and safe, _alive_.

They were quiet for a while; Barry stroked his hands up and down Oliver's back, trying to calm him down. Oliver closed his eyes and focused on Barry – his smell, his firm body, the steady beat of his heart under Oliver's ear.

“Felicity called me.” Barry's voice was almost inaudible, as if he didn't want to interrupt the silence too much. “You don't have to tell me, but...”

Eyes still closed, Oliver took a deep breath and rubbed his nose on Barry's chest. He received a soft kiss on the forehead in return.

“It's just... Dreams.” Barry was quiet, giving him time and not pushing him. “About... You were- You died.”

Barry pulled away to look at him. He waited until their eyes were locked before speaking. “I'm okay. I'm here. Was it- Was it just today? Or-”

“It's been happening for a week or so.”

Barry sighed and leaned his forehead against Oliver's. His breath was warm on Oliver's lips. “ _Why_ didn't you tell me earlier?” Oliver bit his lip and looked away. “You are so stubborn.”

Oliver closed his eyes in embarrassment. “I was- I didn't want you to think-”

“I'm not thinking anything... You know you can tell me stuff like this, right? I'm not just a pretty face.”

Oliver snorted. “I know, I just... didn't want to bother you.”

“You never bother me.”

“And... I was... I don't know...”

Barry gave him a short peck on the nose. “I get it. But... I won't tell anyone. It's none of their business.”

Oliver hoped he could convey his gratitude with his eyes – he was too tired to speak – and judging from Barry's soft smile, he succeeded. He hoped Barry also understood the implied _I don't want to lose you, not ever, I love you but I can't say it yet_.

He was much calmer now, almost ready to fall back asleep; and, for the first time in a week, he wasn't afraid of having nightmares.

Barry pulled away again. “Can I borrow some sweats? I don't really feel like sleeping in my jeans.” Oliver nodded and hummed. He didn't even need to say what he wanted, Barry just _knew_.

A few seconds later, Barry was next to him again. Oliver opened his eyes, just a bit, and saw that Barry had opened his arms. He grinned. “Come on. Let's get those cuddles on.”

 

That night, Oliver didn't have any more bad dreams.

 


End file.
